Hednesford are unceremoniously dumped out of the F.A. Cup at the first hurdle this afternoon as Coventry United join the long list of lower-league sides to have beaten the Pitmen in the World's oldest cup competition in the past twenty years, piling the pressure on under-fire manager Kelvin Davis in the process

 

Coming off the back of a dreadful showing at Hebburn Town last weekend, Davis had moved into the loan market to bring in young Manchester United goalkeeper Will Murdock ahead of today's clash; the 19-year-old came straight into the side as he replaced Sam Hornby, whilst Jai Curran-Nicholls returned ahead of the suspended Sonny Sharples and Will Merry was preferred to Jamie Cooke up front. There was some long-overdue good news on the injury front, as the talented Jay Fitzmartin returned to the squad after a six-week lay-off

​

Northern Premier League Midland outfit Coventry made the short trip to Keys Park, currently sitting eighth in step four after a mixed start to the season. Manager Terry Anderson elected to keep faith in the same side that had started Tuesday night's 3-1 defeat at Boldmere St. Michaels as he stuck with the same XI that included the much-travelled Simeon Cobourne up front

​

Looking to make a quick start to proceedings, the Pitmen forced an early corner that was played short by Ahkeem Rose to Jamie Morgan; the striker picked up a return ball and curled a deep cross to the far post as he aimed for the head of George Williams, only for a timely interception from skipper Chris Cox to turn the ball behind for another corner kick

​

However, the Pitmen proclivity in giving away soft early goals from set-pieces was in full display once more, as for the third time in four games they fell behind inside the first five minutes; a Coventry corner kick on the right was played into the near post by Adam Barber, aimed at the head of Charlie Faulkner - Murdock attempted to punch the ball away from the striker, but could only divert the ball into his own net under pressure from several players around him. A terrible start for the debutant stopper and yet another game that left the Pitmen chasing a route back into it

​

The shell-shocked Pitmen looked for an immediate response through Jamie Morgan in the eighth minute as the right-back ​intercepted the ball thirty yards from goal and tried his luck from long-range, forcing goalkeeper Dan Moore into a save to tip the ball over the crossbar

​

Lenni Cirino and the bright, inventive Merry appeared to be the Pitmen's best chance of opening up a compact and well-drilled Coventry side down the left, with the pair linking up well in the eleventh minute as Merry fed Cirino into space on the overlap; his low cross into the near post was aimed at Aaron Jarvis but hacked away by Cox's no-nonsense clearance

​

Four minutes later, Merry drifted inside from the left, showing some nice footwork to dribble past three Coventry players before laying the ball off to Liam Kinsella, who in turn worked the ball across to Dylan Mottley-Henry. He sold Barber a dummy down the right and took the ball into space, but wasted an excellent chance to provide a cross for Rose as he shanked the ball over the crossbar and into the Heath Hayes terrace

​

Merry and Cirino linked up once more to work the ball around Harry Sawyer down the Hednesford left on nineteen minutes, but again found some stout defending from Coventry to deny them as Adam Miles came across to boot the ball away from danger from Cirino's low cross

​

It was all a bit too pedestrian and predictable from the Pitmen in the early stages of the game, with the disgruntled supporters urging their side to play the ball on the floor more and not rely so much on the ineffective route one football that Coventry were finding relatively easy to deal with

​

On twenty-one minutes, Moore was alert to the danger posed by Rose as he plamed the striker's low, scuffed effort away from goal down to his left after Rose had taken the ball across the face of the box before shooting from eighteen yards out

​

Moore made an excellent save to deny Merry on twenty-seven minutes, diving full length across his goal to the left to push away the youngster's shot after Merry picked up Cirino's pass on the left-hand corner of the box and curled a shot towards the far corner of the net

​

Cox threw his body on the line to deny the Pitmen on thirty-one minutes, making another timely block just inside his box to deny Kinsella as the former Walsall man let fly from twenty-five yards out with a stinging low shot at goal that was diverted away from goal by the Coventry skipper

​

Morgan - incredibly, still looking for his first Hednesford goal in over seventy appearances for the club - forced Moore into another save on thirty-three minutes as he made a late run into the area and stabbed a shot goalwards, forcing the former Worcester City stopper into a save low down

​

More impressive commitment to the cause from Cody Mullan saw the Coventry midfielder throw himself in front of the ball and block another shot from Rose, after Merry's corner kick had been cleared as far as the former Hereford man on the edge of the box

​

Mottley-Henry's game was brought to a halt shortly before half-time as the winger firstly wasted another good chance to deliver a ball into the box from the right with a wild shank out of play, followed seconds later by an injury sustained right in front of the Hednesford bench. He limped off and was replaced by Cooke on the right flank

​

The half-time whistle was met by a chorus of muted and frustrated boos from the home crowd, who had been unimpressed with thre fare served up by their side. Coventry's solid and organised approach to the game had seen them take their only chance of the game so far and had given the home side no time or space to get themselves back into contention

​

Cooke and Rose linked up just a couple of minutes after the restart as they created an opening for the striker; Cooke's low ball into the box from the right was met by the heel of Rose, who probably had run in ahead of the ball and could only divert it straight into the grateful arms of Moore from six yards out

​

Skipper George Williams picked up the game's first yellow card of the afternoon from referee Mr Hall as he was penalised by the match official for a foul on Cobourne

​

The overworked Moore continued to deny the home side as he made another solid claim from the stopper saw him pluck the ball out of the sky ahead of Jarvis after a deep cross from Cooke on the right-hand side

​

Barner followed Williams into Mr Hall's notebook a few moments before the hour mark as the left-back was booked by the referee for bringing Cooke down in full flight as he looked to make his way into the Coventry penalty area. Once again, however, the Pitmen were completely wasteful from the set-piece as Cirino got far too much on the cross and saw his ball in sail over the heads of everyone and out for a goal kick. Really poor stuff from a full-time team that would work on these daily

​

Davis had seen enough from his mis-firing side and made a triple change on sixty-two minutes; Fitzmartin returned to the fray as he replaced Curran-Nicholls, Omari-Sterling-James came on for the bright Merry and David Abimbola replaced the out-of-sorts Rose up front 

​

Within seconds of these changes, Cooke picked up a headed clearance from Miles on the right and delivered a delicious curling cross into the box that somehow missed everyone in a white shirt and drifted out of play, despite there being three Hednesford players inside the six-yard box

​

A minute later, Abimbola was brought down just outside the box by Cox, who appeared to have won the ball in the first instance. Sterling-James's clever free-kick saw him chip the ball to the far post, where Jarvis arrived late to head the ball narrowly over the crossbar from an angle

​

Jarvis was handed another opportunity for the Pitmen midway through the second half as Morgan delivered another fine ball into the box from the right-hand touchline, wth Jarvis getting in ahead of both Miles and Cox to head narrowly wide of Moore's left-hand post

​

The visitors made their first substitution of the afternoon before play could restart, as the experienced Luke Downes came on in place of Reece Blackmore in midfield

​

A rare chance at the other end fell at the feet of former Halesowen Town, Barwell and Rushall Olympic man Cobourne as he exchanged passes with Leo Stone on the counter-attack, entering the penalty area on the left before shooting from an angle and forcing Murdock into a fingertip save to turn the ball over the crossbar

​

Moore came to his side's rescue again on seventy minutes, palming a fiercely-hit effort from Jarvis away from goal to his right after Sterling-James had rolled the ball into the striker's path on the edge of the penalty area

​

A second Coventry United change of the afternoon came on seventy-three minutes as the hard-working Mullan was brought off by Anderson and replaced by the pacy and tricky Benjie Adamoko

​

Morgan was shown the game's latest yellow card by Mr Hall on seventy-six minutes as the right-back was cautioned by the match official for a foul on Adamoko

​

The game was now being played almost exclusively in the Coventry third of the pitch as the Pitmen launched wave after wave of attack, but just couldn't find a way through an impressively tight and compact United formation where the two banks of four gave very little away in terms of space in behind or channels to play the ball through

​

Jarvis's aerial presence forced Moore into another save on eighty-two minutes as Morgan's deep cross from the right flank was met by the striker's flicked effort, but he couldn't get enough direction on his effort and Moore made an easy stop

​

A minute later, Coventry made their final change of the afternoon as Stone came off and was replaced by the hard-working Charlie Shaw in the centre of midfield

​

Two minutes later, Fitzmartin went agonisingly close to grabbing a leveller for the Pitmen as he drifted in from the left, taking the ball past Sawyer before hitting a deflected effort at goal from twenty yards out that forced Moore into a superb stop to his right

​

The Pitmen pressure appeared to peter out in the final minutes as they simply looked to have run out of ideas against their lower-league opponents. The final whistle brought another round of boos from the crowd and calls for the manager's head from some quarters of the ground. It's certainly a grim situation for Davis to be in, with the team lying in a lowly eighteenth place in the National League North table and now out of the F.A. Cup at home to opponents from two divisions lower. Chairman Craig Gwilt has shown remarkable patience with the manager and his playing staff after heavily backing the club in the summer months, and may be forced into a decision he most definitely won't want to make before next Saturday's return to league action when the Pitmen play host to Radcliffe

Hednesford Town: Murdock, Morgan ▆, Langston, Williams © ▆, Jarvis, Rose (Abimbola 62), Mottley-Henry (Cooke 44), Kinsella, Cirino, Curran-Nicholls (Fitzmartin 62), Merry (Sterling-James 62)    Subs unused: Hornby, Harper-Bailey

​

Coventry United: Moore ▆, Sawyer, Barber ▆, Palmer, Cox ©, Miles, Stone (Shaw 83), Blackmore (Downes 66), Cobourne, Mullan (Adamoko 73), Faulkner      Subs unused: Richardson, Bailey, James

​​​​​